High School Substance Abuse Assessment

Calls For Stronger Policies

By Larissa Lytwyn

Newtown High School Principal Bill Manfredonia presented his needs assessment of the school’s substance use policy and programs to the Board of Education during its meeting on May 18.

The assessment was conducted over monthlong period by school faculty and administrators.

“We divided the assessment into four sections: curriculum, policy and procedures, the student assistance process, and parent involvement,” said Mr Manfredonia. “Then we established what worked and what didn’t in each category.”

The school’s current curricular strengths include four or five presentations each year on health and substance abuse issues aimed to enlighten and inspire students.

Most recently, Bob Mortimer, founder of Mortimer Motivational Ministries, whose involvement in a near-fatal, drug-and-alcohol fueled accident cost him his arms and legs, shared his story with students.

Students are also actively involved in enterprise programs and school clubs, organizations, and sports that prohibit drug and alcohol usage. In addition, there are planned health activities, including the annual health fair, that all students have the opportunity to experience each year.

As for “identified needs,” however, Mr Manfredonia proposed developing “a stronger, more comprehensive health program.” This would include the revision of health curriculum and better, more inclusive health training for faculty.

“It can be difficult to go up to someone and basically accuse them of using illegal substances,” Mr Manfredonia said. “We can help them use less [invasive] techniques, like ‘You don’t look right.’ Then the student can be brought to the nurses office for a physical examination.”

Drug and alcohol issues, he noted, have been a problem as long as he could remember, not only in Newtown but also in high schools and communities across the United States. Most recently, he said, was the proliferation of over-the-counter drug abuse. Symptoms could be more difficult to identify than the more familiar signs of alcohol, marijuana, or other illegal drug use.

Health education is currently conducted in conjunction with physical education classes. The final exam in physical education is based on the study of health issues.

Mr Manfredonia is considering separating the two subjects into independent courses with their own distinct curriculum.

“Right now, health class for some students means, ‘Oh good, now we don’t have to go in the pool for two weeks,’” said Mr Manfredonia candidly.

He moved on to the analysis of the school’s policies and procedures.

“We’ve had a breathalyzer in our school for several years now,” he said, “which we use at school functions. They can be very helpful.”

Student athletes must also sign a pledge that they will not engage in illegal substance use or abuse while participating on a school sports team.

Mr Manfredonia suggested instituting a similar pledge for all students.

He praised the newly reestablished Parent Connection, a grassroots organization dedicated to eradicating substance abuse, as well as the newly reformed Newtown High School PTA for their efforts to address such issues.

He also suggested condensing the disciplinary policy’s current three-step policy into a two-step one. In the current policy, the first offense involving drug use translates to automatic three- to five-day suspension, including exclusion from extracurricular activities, including sports. The second is a five- to seven-day period of suspension. The final step is an expulsion request to the Board of Education.

Students who are caught in possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia are automatically arrested in accordance with the law.

While parents are notified at the first offense, intensive counseling recommendations are not offered until the second offense.

“By condensing our policy into a two-step one, we are hoping that we can have our students, and their families, take this issue more seriously,” Mr Manfredonia said.

Currently, he continued, the first offense, often committed by students in the experimentation stage of drug and alcohol use, is considered by the students to be a “vacation” from school. “A lot of parents work, so the students are home alone,” Mr Manfredonia said. But if the first offense is considerably more stringent, the principal believes that the student will be less apt to even gamble at the “experimental” point.

“We would recommend intensive counseling right from the get-go,” he said. The suspension would be five to seven days and several follow-ups would be conducted to ensure that the student attended counseling. School social workers and psychologists offer counseling.

Mr Manfredonia said that the school could also provide recommendations for families interested in getting help outside of Newtown.

While the board lauded Mr Manfredonia’s succinct presentation, some members, including David Nanavaty, expressed concern over the three-to-two-step proposed policy change.

“Addiction is a disease,” Mr Nanavaty, an attorney, said. “In the criminal justice field, we are trying to implement a more rehabilitative approach. Our jails are overflowing with these [addicts]. We don’t want to punish these students.”

While Mr Manfredonia acknowledged his concern, he maintained that the first step was rehabilitative in nature.

Another board member, Tom Gissen, worried if there would be enough discernment of students in the “experimental” stage of alcohol and drug use and those with a serious addiction.

“We realize that,” said Mr Manfredonia. “The first step would be an identifier.”

Board secretary Andy Buzzi said he agreed with the potential two-step policy. “This would be heavy first step,” he said. “I think it would send the [right] message.”

Board chairman Elaine McClure inquired about the possibility of instituting an “in-school suspension” that could prove a better deterrent than students on a “vacation” at home.

“We have considered doing that with our current staff,” Mr Manfredonia said, “but it would be difficult to have teachers moving from period to period. If we had someone to staff that kind of a program all the time, it could work.”

He briefly reflected on research from a 2003 Network Grants Program of the Evaluation of the National School District suggesting that smaller schools are generally more effective in battling substance abuse.

Newtown High School is considered large and growing, with more than 1,600 students.

Tight budgets over the last two years have made recruiting additional administration and faculty difficult.

To institute a more small-school feeling, Mr Manfredonia said that faculty members are working together to develop a new vision of the high school that gives a “small town” feeling in a large school. There are also continual efforts, he said, to engage students in a “climate of respect and collaboration” and reaching out to disenfranchised students.

“We are only at the first step in this,” Mr Manfredonia said. “But it’s worth doing.”

Newtown High School’s substance abuse policy is available at www.newtown.k12.ct.us/~nhs/admin/pages/shb.htm. For more information, contact Newtown High School at 426-7646 or the Board of Education office at 426-7621.